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Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
Any garlic, or onion, growers? I had to take a last minute decision to harvest my garlic 20 days ago on the morning we went on holiday. I cleaned the plants thoroughly but rather than risk leaving them outside for nearly three weeks I stored them in my very well ventilated wood shed.

The stems have dried to within 4-6" of the bulb but the remaining stalk is still moist to touch and spongy. I'm thinking of moving the bulbs outside now to continue drying. There is no sign of rot at present.

Any thoughts?

Can’t fault that. Just don’t store them with any moisture on the ‘papers’. Dew, light rain etc. The dryer the better. The current weather us ideal. I dry mine on racks. A friend uses old freezer cages. Garlic stores really well. There are some easy braiding videos on YouTube for a decorative look. Braid as they are now and then store.
 

PaulSB

Squire
@Heltor Chasca thanks. I hoped you would be along
 

Low Gear Guy

Veteran
Location
Surrey
After four years of waiting the mulberries are nearly ready. :hungry:

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Poacher

Gravitationally challenged member
Location
Nottingham
With the benefit of experience, we only have two courgette plants, but are still struggling to keep pace with production. So far we've had courgette "tagliatelle" with lemon juice, toasted pine nuts and parmesan, stuffed marrow (twice, but delicious both times) and industrial quantities of ratatouille with pinto beans, incorporating aubergines and green peppers from the greenhouse and basil, oregano and french tarragon from the garden, and given some to reluctant but polite neighbours. Today I've had to adopt the default recipe of Madhur Jaffrey's courgette meatballs, one batch to be eaten tomorrow, two to go in the freezer if I can find room. I'm not complaining - last year we resorted to putting some out front of the house free to a good home.

Outdoor tomatoes (Hundreds and Thousands variety) are doing well, but I was slightly bemused when trusses which seemed to be ripening well made no apparent progress. Mystery solved - our resident Blackbird must have misread cherry tomatoes as cherries and was scoffing them as they turned red - caught the robber in the act! He seems to have tired of the flavour, so now we have a chance. In the greenhouse, as well as one H&T tomato, we have two Brandywine tomato plants; one is producing superbly but on the other, every fruit has "bottom rot". No difference in how they've been watered, so there's another mystery.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
With the benefit of experience, we only have two courgette plants, but are still struggling to keep pace with production. So far we've had courgette "tagliatelle" with lemon juice, toasted pine nuts and parmesan, stuffed marrow (twice, but delicious both times) and industrial quantities of ratatouille with pinto beans, incorporating aubergines and green peppers from the greenhouse and basil, oregano and french tarragon from the garden, and given some to reluctant but polite neighbours. Today I've had to adopt the default recipe of Madhur Jaffrey's courgette meatballs, one batch to be eaten tomorrow, two to go in the freezer if I can find room. I'm not complaining - last year we resorted to putting some out front of the house free to a good home.

Outdoor tomatoes (Hundreds and Thousands variety) are doing well, but I was slightly bemused when trusses which seemed to be ripening well made no apparent progress. Mystery solved - our resident Blackbird must have misread cherry tomatoes as cherries and was scoffing them as they turned red - caught the robber in the act! He seems to have tired of the flavour, so now we have a chance. In the greenhouse, as well as one H&T tomato, we have two Brandywine tomato plants; one is producing superbly but on the other, every fruit has "bottom rot". No difference in how they've been watered, so there's another mystery.

Sounds fantastic at yours. Do you mean blossom end rot? The calcium deficiency problem? Usually a watering issue, but if you say all is ok on that front, it can also result if the humidity in your glasshouse is too high. Rarely does soil or compost lack enough calcium. Increase ventilation if you can.

Could you eat the blackbird’s offspring in the interim?
 

Dave 123

Legendary Member
Courgette recipe.

In a place I used to work I grew the yellow ones. They were quite firm. I'd cut them at 6 inches long.
I'd slice thinly, grill one side, flip over, rake the ungrilled side roughly with a fork, soak with really garlicky olive oil, grill for a minute, add cheese, grill for a bit longer, then add bread crumbs.

I hate courgettes, but this was delicious!
 
My Dahlias currently in flower.

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Dahlia Hadrian's Sunset

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Dahlia Twinings After Eight (white) and Karma Choc (red)

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My personal favourite, Dahlia Bishop of Auckland in my opinion an improvement on Bishop of Llandaff.

Cactus Dahlia.jpg


Mystery cactus Dahlia from Wilko.

I have two more Dahlias yet to flower Dahlia Cameo (white Waterlily) and Kilburn Glow ( stunning red and yellow waterlily). I will post once they finally decide to wake up.
 

Dave 123

Legendary Member
@User16390 good to see. Mine are in raised beds and I just can’t keep them noisy enough this year. I’ll enjoy yours instead!


Noisy..... I typed moist!
 
@User16390 good to see. Mine are in raised beds and I just can’t keep them noisy enough this year. I’ll enjoy yours instead!


Noisy..... I typed moist!


My problem has been Black aphids, I had self sown nasturtiums shooting up and cardoons planted at the back of the front garden when a plague of ebony critters attacked them. The Cardoons can handle it but the Nasturtiums became a mass of honey dew and sooty mould, to make matters worse the little buggers decided to attack my Dahlia Karma Choc, so I pulled out all the nasturtiums and cut off the aphid infested shoots on the dahlia, hopefully this will put a stop to them. I have a couple of fennel planted about to flower so hopefully the lacewings will put paid to them.
 
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OP
Tin Pot

Tin Pot

Guru
BBQ foods should be delivered shortly - Bbq breakfast planned!

Garden really suffering from a lack of watering at the moment as holiday and training have interrupted my daily routine.

Can I just slap some ready made mortar in this and move on?
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I have small Havianas, but you should get a sense of scale.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
BBQ foods should be delivered shortly - Bbq breakfast planned!

Garden really suffering from a lack of watering at the moment as holiday and training have interrupted my daily routine.

Can I just slap some ready made mortar in this and move on?
View attachment 422445 View attachment 422446 View attachment 422447
I have small Havianas, but you should get a sense of scale.

I would move house.

I wouldn’t bother with raking out all the old mortar and replacing with a resin pointing product that you simply sweep in. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

But like I say: Best to move.
 
OP
OP
Tin Pot

Tin Pot

Guru
I would move house.

I wouldn’t bother with raking out all the old mortar and replacing with a resin pointing product that you simply sweep in. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

But like I say: Best to move.

Hmm. £45+VAT for Marshall’s weather 365 sweep in stuff...that covers a paltry 7m2 of paving. I’d probably need three or four.
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
I've had good results with using postcrete. Get out the loose bits of old grouting, then brush it in dry (it's worth spending time with the brushing) and leave it. Once it's soaked up some water and set, a further brushing and you're done.
 
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